Moiraine is on the run from the White Tower, and is in Kandor interviewing women from the list. She bumps into Merean and Larelle, and then into one of the most powerful Aes Sedai alive, Cadsuane Melaidhrin. Cadsuane orders Moiraine to travel with Merean and Larelle.
Enough of the Lan and Bukama story, right? Booooring.
Back with Moiraine, she has been away from the White Tower for three months. Where has she ended up? Kandor, of course! She is meeting with a woman whose teenage girls have apparently begun to channel subconsciously. One of them went and burned down the family barn with their father and newborn son inside. Whoopsie daisy! But look on the bright side: at least the little tyke wasn’t the Dragon Reborn, amiright?
Yes, never mind the fact that the White Tower most likely has Moiraine’s face on a wanted poster — she has decided to travel around with her list of names and search for the Dragon. Making her way back to the inn where she is staying, it becomes clear that Moiraine has been conducting her trip under the guise of a noblewoman. Unfortunately for her, accommodations in the city were difficult to find, and she ended up staying at a place that is crawling with Aes Sedai.
And not just any Aes Sedai. In addition to five sisters that Moiraine does not know, Merean is there. The former Mistress of Novices, having been relieved of her Tower office following Tamra’s death, is in the company of Larelle. The two are amused to discover that Moiraine has managed, despite the first oath, to deceive the five sisters into believing she is a wilder — a woman who navigated the perils of learning to channel on her own.
When her acquaintances indulge her pretense, Moiraine feels pretty good about the encounter… until she hears the voice of Cadsuane Melaidhrin. She must be the titular arrival of this chapter, and is said to be so strong with the One Power that even among Aes Sedai she can essentially do whatever she wants and get away with it. Because of the power dynamic, nobody dares to contradict her, and I have a feeling that Moiraine internally refers to her as Mistress Bossypants.
Cadsuane brings Moiraine, Merean and Larelle to a private sitting room at the inn. Only she doesn’t allow Moiraine to sit, and quickly reveals that she knows exactly what Moiraine is. Cadsuane interviews Larelle and Merean about Moiraine, and we finally learn what came of Siuan’s proposed prank at the end of Chapter 10: It Finishes: the pair was busted and sent to Merean for punishment on the eve of becoming Aes Sedai.
Moiraine is indignant at Merean having referred to Siuan as her “pillow-friend” — whatever that means — and attempts to take her leave. But Cadsuane orders her to stay, starts rambling about how the women in the White Tower have been getting weaker and weaker over the centuries, and about how Moiraine is apt to get herself killed by gallivanting around the way she is. So she orders Merean and Larelle to accompany Moiraine to her next destination of Chachin, as they are all traveling that way anyway. None of them is happy about it.